The Chicago Ballers were a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team based in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The team competed in the

Junior Basketball Association The Junior Basketball Association (JBA) was an American basketball league that intended to be an alternative to the NCAA by allowing high school and junior college players to immediately play professionally. The league was first announced in Dec ...

(JBA), a league created for high school and

junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

players as an alternative to the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA).

History

The JBA was first announced on December 20, 2017, when media personality

LaVar Ball LaVar Christopher Ball (born October 23, 1967) is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the sports apparel company Big Baller Brand and founder of the now defunct Junior Basketball Association (JBA ...

said to ''

Slam Slam, SLAM or SLAMS may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional elements * S.L.A.M. (Strategic Long-Range Artillery Machine), a fictional weapon in the ''G.I. Joe'' universe * SLAMS (Space-Land-Air Missile Shield), a fictional anti-ball ...

'' magazine that he would create a professional league targeted at high school graduates and fully funded by his sports apparel company

Big Baller Brand Big Baller Brand (BBB) is an American company that designs, manufactures, and sells clothing and shoes. Launched in 2016 by Alan Foster and LaVar Ball, it has most notably produced signature shoes for the Ball brothers—basketball players Lon ...

. The league held tryouts in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in April 2018, attracting 100 prospects but initially selecting only two players to its Chicago Ballers team: former

Simeon Career Academy Neal F. Simeon Career Academy (formerly known as Westcott Vocational High School, Neal F. Simeon Vocational High School, Neal F. Simeon Career Technical Academy), locally known simply as Simeon, is a public four-year vocational high school locate ...

standout Kezo Brown and

player Antonio Singleton. However, it held more tryouts in the same city at a later date. Brown, a former

Chicago State Chicago State University (CSU) is a predominantly black public university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1867 as the Cook County Normal School, it was an innovative teachers college. Eventually the Chicago Public Schools assumed control of t ...

commit embattled with mental health issues in high school, was encouraged to join the Ballers after Chicago State head coach Tracy Dildy was fired and assumed the same position with the Chicago JBA team. However, Dildy was replaced by Eddie Denard, who had been his assistant at Chicago State, before the season began. Singleton, on the other hand, struggled academically in high school and later played for

Dakota College at Bottineau Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) is a public community college in Bottineau, North Dakota. Founded in 1906 as a forestry school, Dakota College's 35-acre campus is home to the North Dakota Forest Service Headquarters. It offers Associate of Appli ...

. On June 8, 2018, members of the Ballers were interviewed on

WCIU-TV WCIU-TV (channel 26) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is the flagship television property of locally based Weigel Broadcasting, which has owned the station since its inception, and is siste ...

. On July 13, coach Eddie Denard drew widespread criticism after shoving and verbally berating Montrell Dixson. In their next game on July 19, the Chicago squad was coached by former Sacramento State University assistant coach Nicolas Colon, effectively replacing coach Denard moving forward.

Final roster

References

External links

JBA official website
{{JBA Junior Basketball Association teams

Ballers ''Ballers'' is an American sports comedy drama television series created by Stephen Levinson and starring Dwayne Johnson as Spencer Strasmore, a retired NFL player who must navigate his new career of choice as the financial manager of other NFL ...